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Tesla Crosses $100 For the First Time

Elon Musk’s Tesla Motors, Inc. (TSLA) opened Tuesday’s regular trading activity at $101.99, after last Friday’s closing price of $97.08, marking the first time the electric-car maker has seen its shares break the $100 mark.

The company is riding off of the momentum from a busy prior week that saw it raise nearly $1 billion from the sale of new stock and notes, money that was used to make good on an earlier promise from Musk to pay off the remainder of Tesla’s $465 million Department of Energy loan nine years ahead of time.

2013 has been a huge year for Tesla Motors, particularly in the wake of a public controversy involving New York Times reporter John Broder who took the company’s new Model S sedan for a test-drive through newly built recharging stations on the East Coast. Broder gave the highly-touted new vehicle bad marks, especially concerning the alleged lasting-power of the car’s battery, leading to a rather contentious exchange of rebuttals between him and Musk in the pages of the NYT.

Since that time, however, the company’s shares have been on a steep upward trajectory. Tesla’s stock has nearly doubled over the past six months to where it currently stands, with the recently ended quarter being the first profitable one in its history.

On Tuesday, shares were up around 8 percent to $105.40, as reports surfaced of Goldman Sachs analysts visiting the company’s factory in Freemont, California. The analysts noted strong demand for the Model S, around 20,000 orders per year, increased in places where the automobile has already been purchased. Additionally, the Goldman noted that Tesla’s battery costs are likely to take a 75 percent cut over the next ten years.

The company has padded this news with the promise of announcement, due out this week, regarding the expansion of its current network of solar-powered-recharging stations. The $70,000 dollar car has an estimated range of 265 miles per each full charge, which the stations are designed to provide within a period of 30 minutes.

It is worth noting that Musk’s other company, SolarCity (SCTY), has also done incredibly well since its IPO late last year. Currently shares are trading at $50.05, up 309 percent year-to-date.

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